I find it funny because I brought Guilherme Maia (guy awarding the belt ) to the UK and he was dead set against this sort of thing I pmed the guy on face book who got the bet and he was also charged $40 for the grading on belts and stripes day....... just goes to show how people change..

Out of interest, what do you think is the difference between stripes and different colour belts?

stripes are part of the commonly accepted system of belts but green belts for adults aren't.

In my kids' karate class there are about 5 belts before yellow and the whole grading system is geared towards making money. At the end of the day if people are doing this for a living and face a choice of more money and compromising their beliefs or taking the moral high ground and staying skint most would compromise their beliefs for more money.